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Author: Greater NW Communications

Fair and equal ordination for all: “Was it worth it?” Recalling the trauma from going on trial as an LGBTQ+ clergy

Quote from Karen Dammann

As we continue our “Where Love Lives: Fair and Equal Ordination for All” storytelling project as part of the Western Jurisdiction campaign for a fully inclusive church, we hear from Rev. Karen Dammann, who this week 17 years ago was put on trial for “practices incompatible with Christian teaching” three years after disclosing to then-Pacific Northwest Conference Bishop Elias Galvan that she was a lesbian.

Her trial drew national media attention to a Sunday school classroom at Bothell UMC. She was acquitted by a 13-member board of her peers. But as you’ll read in her first-person account, Dammann still wonders if the scrutiny, the fear, the isolation and more were all worth it.

It was 17 years ago this week that my family and a team of supporters arrived at a church north of Seattle for the trial that was to determine whether I was guilty of “practices incompatible with Christian teaching”. 

Rev. Karen Dammann

This trial came at the end of a three-year legal process that began in 2001 when I came out to my Bishop. Our child was two-and-a-half years old at that time and had just started to call me “Mama.” This normally exciting development was the point that required me to face the fact that the closet was no place to raise a child. We would not teach this innocent being – our child – to lie, and we could not expect our child to keep his family a secret.

I thought about surrendering my credentials when we decided to leave the closet, but the person who had become our pastor, Rev. John Auer, asked me if I was still called to the ministry. The answer was “yes.” With John’s support, and the help of his congregation, I was able to come out to my Bishop.

I knew there would be consequences for my choice, the main one being the loss of my vocation. We hoped that coming out of the closet, rather than quietly quitting, might help our denomination move toward full inclusion of LGBTQ+ persons. What we were not prepared for was the media scrutiny, estrangement from colleagues, and threats to our safety.

The Rev. Bob Ward and our legal team built a defense that included a broad slate of church experts who offered to testify for full inclusion in our denominational polity. For three days, we heard testimony that shined a light on our denomination’s unjust exclusive stance. This testimony made possible a “not guilty” verdict.

Bishop William Boyd Grove, presiding bishop, ended the trial by sealing the trial record, which effectively ended the possibility of sharing the expert testimony with the rest of the denomination. 

In the years since I have asked several times to have the transcript released, not just for the Church, but for our child, who was the catalyst for being us being truthful about who his family is.

In 2018 I met Stephen Drachler (formerly of UM Communications, now a consultant) at a Reconciling Ministry Gathering. We spoke about the trial and he offered to approach Bishop Grove about releasing the transcript. 

As a result of Stephen’s action, I received a letter from Bishop Grove in January of 2019 telling me that he and Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky had agreed to release the transcript to me and to the public. (Thank you, Stephen!) Thank you also to Bishop Grove on behalf of the two-and-a-half year old, the 5-year-old and the now 22-year-old person I had hoped would have the transcript to read one day.

Last February (2020) Bishop Elaine told me the transcript had not been found in the PNW Office, even though, according to the provisions of the Book of Discipline, the transcript and all records of a trial shall be held in a special secure file by the Secretary of the Annual Conference. 

That brings us to the present moment. I have been asked if it was worth it. 

In many ways it was not worth it. When the transcript and the information that it contained was sealed, the hope that the cost of my coming out would help our denomination to see a way to include everyone slipped away. The danger and threats that our family experienced was never worth it. Sadly, our denomination continues to officially exclude from full participation LBGTQIA+ people. We are now in limbo waiting for the church to split over the issue. What difference did it make after all?

On the other hand, was it worth it? In some ways it was. The Greater Northwest has become a place of full inclusion for LGBTQIA+ persons. Maybe the trial did make a difference, even just a little bit, in the GNW becoming safer than many other places in the denomination.

A not-guilty verdict, and remaining in good standing, was an unexpected outcome for me. It was worth it personally for that determination. 

Even though the threats we received convinced us to disappear for a while to keep our family safe after the trial, I longed for the day I could come back to work. In 2012 I was appointed by Bishop Grant Hagiya to serve a church in Alaska. I am in my ninth year of ministry here. 

Seventeen years later some things have changed for the better. Many things have not.  I still want to be able to hand a copy of the trial transcript to my son. Maybe someone reading this knows where it is.

This week, I will do what I always do on the anniversary of my trial. I will light a candle in prayer for the full inclusion of my LGBTQIA+ siblings in our church. I have hope that whatever emerges in the year ahead, there will be a denomination that is fully inclusive of everyone.  

Rev. Karen Dammann is an ordained elder in the PNW Conference, currently serving United Methodist churches in the Alaska Conference.

Fair and equal ordination for all: A gay preacher’s calling

"When God calls us, our orientation, sexuality, gender identity, or whatever you want to call it, doesn’t come in to play. God already knows who we are," writes Rev. Thomas Orquiza-Renardo in this piece for "Where Love Lives: Fair and Equal Ordination is Here" March campaign of the Western Jurisdiction of The UMC.

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“Buscando ser la luz de Dios en el mundo”

Isaías 40

Una voz proclama:
«Preparen en el desierto
un camino para el Señor;
enderecen en la estepa
un sendero para nuestro Dios.
4 Que se levanten todos los valles,
y se allanen todos los montes y colinas;
que el terreno escabroso se nivele
y se alisen las quebradas.
5 Entonces se revelará la gloria del Señor,
y la verá toda la humanidad.
El Señor mismo lo ha dicho».

La Jurisdicción Occidental de la Iglesia Metodista Unida tiene la visión de convertirse en un “hogar para todos los hijos/as de Dios, para que todos podamos estar reunidos alrededor de una mesa de reconciliación y transformación”. Algunos nos han llamado desobedientes. Otros afirman que somos profetas por reconocer a las personas LGBTQ + como hijos amados de Dios, bendecir sus matrimonios y ordenarlos para el ministerio mucho antes que la mayoría de la iglesia lo hiciera. La inclusión LGBTQ + es solo una de las formas en que en la Jurisdicción Occidente hemos buscado preparar la mesa para todos los hijos/as de Dios. La Jurisdicción Occidental da la bienvenida a inmigrantes de todo el mundo y ha consagrado a muchos “obispos tales como”: Wilbur Choy, Chino-americano; Roy Sano, Japonés-americano; Elías Galván, Hispanoamericano; Leontyne Kelly, mujer de la raza negra; Minerva Carcaño, Hispanoamericana; y Karen Oliveto, primer obispo en un matrimonio y comprometida con una persona del mismo sexo.

Los líderes Metodistas Unidos en la Jurisdicción Occidental aceptamos la petición de John Wesley de que “seamos de un corazón, aunque no necesariamente de una sola opinión”. Estamos dedicando este año para reconocer, nombrar y celebrar la variedad de ministerios “Donde vive el amor”, no porque tengamos un rincón especial en el mercado del amor, sino porque el amor se ve diferente en cada lugar.

Comencemos por ver dónde vive el amor en los extraordinarios detalles de la historia de Navidad.

Photo by Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky.

El amor vive en una pareja sin hogar, cansada después de un largo día de viaje, que encuentra descanso en un refugio lleno de animales.

El amor vive mientras esta pareja exhausta da la bienvenida al nacimiento de su bebé y lo acuesta en un pesebre.

El amor vive cuando una estrella brilla en el cielo nocturno o cuando desciende una canción del cielo, señalando de que está sucediendo algo nuevo y santo.

El amor vive donde pastores, peregrinos aparecen en la noche, después de ver, de maravillarse y de seguir estos signos de esperanza.

La historia de Navidad nos muestra que donde vive el amor, suceden cosas que nunca creíste posibles. Así como Dios nació en Jesús, Dios también puede morar en nosotros, a medida que crecemos para amar tan maravillosamente como Dios ama, tan extravagantemente como Jesús ama a nuestro prójimo, a los extraños y a aquellos que consideramos como enemigos. Esta es una muy buena noticia cuando la gente vive a la sombra de la muerte y bajo el yugo de la opresión. Estemos atento en donde vive el amor.

El amor vive donde una abuela pone su abrigo sobre los hombros de un extraño que esta dormido en un autobús helado.

El amor vive donde un cuidador de la salud sostiene un teléfono inteligente o una tableta para conectar a un paciente moribundo con un ser querido.

El amor vive cuando una iglesia local da la bienvenida a extraños, viudas y huérfanos que buscan seguridad.

El amor vive cuando las personas que están ordenando su sexualidad e identidad tienen un lugar en la mesa de la fe.

El amor vive donde los cristianos viven su promesa bautismal de “resistir el mal, la injusticia y la opresión en cualquier forma que se presenten”.

El amor vive cuando un transeúnte graba una atrocidad violenta y racista en su teléfono para que el mundo la vea. El amor vive en el angustiado grito de justicia y amor.

El amor vive cuando una iglesia ofrece espacio para que las personas evacuadas de los incendios forestales puedan guardar sus pertenencias o alojar a sus mascotas.

El amor vive cuando cualquiera de nosotros encuentra nuestro corazón endurecido abierto y listo para sanar una relación rota.

Que Cristo nazca en esta oscura Navidad. Oro para que Cristo more en sus corazones a través de la fe, mientras están arraigados y cimentados en el amor, para que puedan ser llenos de toda la plenitud de Dios.

Obispo Elaine JW Stanovsky
Área Episcopal del Gran Noroeste

Translated and Adapted to Spanish by:
Rev. Cruz Edwin Santos
Director of Hispanic/Latinx Ministry

‘Where Love Lives, Creating a Fully Inclusive United Methodist Church’; Western Jurisdiction Beginning Year-long Campaign

DENVER, Colo. (Oct. 7, 2020) – The Western Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church is beginning preparations for the next General Conference by recommitting itself to be a faithful, inviting, open, safe and loving place for all people.

As The United Methodist Church awaits a delayed decision on the proposed Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace through Separation, “Where Love Lives” is a nearly year-long campaign centering on the faith values that have undergirded the jurisdiction’s long-term commitment to a scripturally based fully inclusive ministry. It advocates approval of the Protocol by the General Conference.

“The Western Jurisdiction is committed to living out our belief that God’s church is open to all,” said Bishop Karen Oliveto, president of the Western Jurisdiction College of Bishops. “The Protocol for Reconciliation and Grace through Separation offers a way forward to begin easing the five decades of pain created by the wounds inflicted on LGBTQ persons by the church.”

Read More on the Greater Northwest News Site

Episcopal Address Part 3 | The United or Untied Methodist Church – shaping the future of the Church?

The United or Untied Methodist Church – shaping the future of the Church?

Episcopal Address Part III  (Part I – Part II) | September 16, 2020

Remember February of 2019?

General Conference met in St. Louis, Missouri, with high hopes that The United Methodist Church would adopt “The One Church Plan,” eliminating the prohibitions and punishments which have marginalized and excluded full participation of LGBTQ+ people in the Church and its ministries for nearly 40 years. When the plan failed, hopes crashed and the General Conference ended in open anger and hostility, while conversations began across the church about what needed to happen next.

How can United Methodists who cannot tolerate the exclusive policies and practices resist? Hang banners outside the church, run newspaper ads, withhold apportionments, plan to leave the denomination? Should we try again at another General Conference? Should the denomination plan for an orderly separation with fair division of assets to be presented to the next General Conference? Should we abandon the idea of a global church, and give more autonomy to national or regional churches? One thing we quickly realized is that we needed to intentionally invite into leadership as we shape the future that they will carry forward.

A year ago, I called together a Guiding Coalition of diverse leaders from the Alaska, Oregon-Idaho and Pacific Northwest Conferences. It organized into ten working groups that began to look at options for the future. 

And then COVID-19 grabbed our attention, threatening the very health of the nation and world. It became the critical focus as we adjusted every aspect of our lives to keep safe and prevent the spread of the disease. Concern for the future of The United Methodist Church receded into the background. Almost everything we understand as Church moved online. Conferences were cancelled or postponed and conducted remotely like this one.

And then the world saw George Floyd, with a policeman’s knee on his neck, struggle, plead, call for his Mama and die on a street in Minneapolis. Again, the headlines shifted, attention focused on real and present systemic racism in America. People cried out, rose up and poured out into the streets to demand racial justice and equity.

We live in a different world today than we did even a year ago. These movements are overwhelming. They demand all our attention and resources. We are weary. But no rest for the weary.

As wildfires rage across the West, we find ourselves in another crisis in Oregon and Washington, and to a lesser degree, to this point, in Idaho. And the church digs deeper, finds reserves it did not know it had, invents new ways to mobilize to offer relief to people who are evacuated, homeless, and stricken by sooty, ashen air.

Disaster response volunteers are working with district superintendents, local church pastors and laity, our Hispanic ministry coordinator and communicators to provide emergency shelter – a necessary service. They are also responding to the need to store the personal belongings of people who have evacuated in church buildings that have been closed for months. All the while they adopt practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The faithfulness, courage, and generosity of the churches is urgently needed and ready in this time of uncertainty. And the “connections” The United Methodist Church brings to these crises are the blessings of generations of faithful folks who have given, organized, volunteered, prayed, and reached out.

United or Untied: what is the future of United Methodism?

I think about this as a telescoping question, beginning in every local church, and expanding out until it includes the whole global UMC.

At the Center: Local Churches 

At the center of questions about United Methodism is the local church. We know, going back to Paul’s church in Corinth, that every local church struggles to have a center that is strong enough to hold people together despite strong differences of understanding, practice, opinion and actions. This is nothing new, though it looks different in every generation and every location. Churches fight about anything and everything: music, the color of the carpet, worship time, Sunday school curriculum, who should have keys to the building, or the kitchen. And they fight about abortion, gun rights, human sexuality and inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in its ministries.  Divisions have become even more intense as attitudes toward the pandemic, racism and LGBTQ+ inclusion have become politicized and threaten to divide congregations that have lived in peace for decades.

First Ring: The Alaska Conference

The Alaska Conference, which is 49 years old, is asking to become a mission district in the Pacific Northwest Conference. This proposal will come before the Annual, General and Jurisdictional Conferences in 2021. What will life together look like if this proposal is adopted next year? What must we be doing now, planning now, changing now to fully embrace Alaska in the PNW?

Second Ring: The Greater Northwest Area – Alaska, Oregon-Idaho and Pacific Northwest Conferences

What does it mean that the area shares one bishop? It’s easy to see it as a burden – less bishop per conference. Even as the churches and communities across the Greater Northwest decline and struggle to connect with new generations and new populations in their communities, we are learning that as we work together across conference lines, we often expand our capacity, our innovation, our community engagement, our connectional strength. Cooperation across conference lines has blossomed during COVID-19 and now in response to the wildfires that are ravaging Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Crisis response, communications, Grocery Gift Cards for Families and the Fund for Families, all benefited from cross-conference collaboration.

  • Let’s hear it for disaster response volunteers and the district superintendents who have worked as a crisis management team consistently from the earliest days of the pandemic, to learn the best science as it emerged, to listen to the best advice, and to lead our churches to put health and life first, and to adjust and limit their activities to prevent spread of the virus. Oh, and they just secured two $10,000 UMCOR emergency grants, one for Pacific Northwest and one for Oregon-Idaho Conference, to provide relief to victims of the wildfires. And they are working with district superintendents to help local churches that have been closed for months, open to provide emergency shelter and other relief services.
  • Let’s hear it for conference communicators, who have worked tirelessly during COVID-19 to help us keep connected while we were staying at home, closing church buildings, and learning to worship, pray and give online. Communicators from the three conferences have worked together to provide timely updates on the pandemic, host weekly webinars on topics like online worship and giving, providing pastoral care, staying healthy. They promoted the best practices for hygiene, including a campaign to sew and wear masks. They helped local churches learn to use Zoom, Facebook and other platforms for online worship and meetings. They published notices to local churches on staying safe, postponing in-person worship and Reimagining Life Together. They produced online Easter Worship available across the area, and resources for local churches to incorporate into online Pentecost worship.
  • Let’s hear it for the Innovation Vitality (IV) Team, that initiates and supports innovative ministry projects across the area, within existing churches and with new leaders working in communities our churches don’t reach. 

Now take a deep breath. I’m going to ask a question that I mostly hear in whispered tones:

Is it time for the conferences to merge into one?  

Hear me. I know that simply uttering this question causes some blood pressure to rise, and other blood to boil. I have been slow to consider this question until and unless it arises from within the area. Friends, this question is arising from within the area. We can pretend we don’t hear it, but it’s being asked. And as it is asked, I hear two responses: 

  1. This is the time to merge into the Greater Northwest Conference – when everything is disrupted already, and we are working well together, and
  2. Never! The conferences have distinctive cultures, history. We don’t want to lose that. We’ll get lost in a bigger conference.

We owe it to ourselves and to each other to have this conversation, and to ask: Where is God leading us? Where are we finding new life?

The Western Jurisdiction

Our jurisdiction has more unanimity about the divisive questions of LGBTQ+ inclusion than almost any other sector of the Church. LGBTQ+ clergy have been ordained and survived in ministry, and LGBTQ+ weddings have been performed in every conference in the West. So, what does the future look for in the West? If the main branch of United Methodism continues to prohibit and punish LGBTQ+ inclusion, what is to become of the Western Jurisdiction? Can it remain part of a church that excludes or marginalizes LGBTQ+ people, working and praying for another General Conference to solve the conflict? Across the United States and around the world, United Methodists who are LGBTQ+ inclusive look to the Western Jurisdiction to lead. What might that look like? How do we have those conversations? God didn’t lead United Methodists in the West out of the slavery of homophobia to let us wander eternally in the present wilderness. We search for the path to promises fulfilled.

The United Methodist Church

For nearly 40 years our church has struggled to reach a consensus about inclusion of LGBTQ+ people in the life and ministry of the Church. But it hasn’t been just about human sexuality. Some strategic people chose this as the issue over which to divide the church. This conflict came to intense and agonizing conflict at the General Conferences held in 2016 and 2019, with no resolution. It does not appear that United Methodists can remain together in the one, global church we have been since 1968. So, what will become of this one great “connectional” church of 12 million members worldwide when the ties that bind us stretch and break? Will it break into national churches? Will it splinter into many small fragments based on worship style, inclusive language, sexual identity and orientation or social policy? Will every local church have to decide who to affiliate with? Or will Annual Conferences make this decision, forcing some local churches to vote to stay or withdraw from their Annual Conference? How will property and other assets be divided? And most importantly, what will the division be for?  What purpose will it serve?  What vision is God leading us toward? Who do we want to be for one another and how does God want us to transform the world? 

The existential question we face in the Greater Northwest is, will we stay together? Do we want to stay together? Do we love each other enough, to stay in communion with one another despite real differences? The annual conferences of the Greater Northwest Area have been LGBTQ+ inclusive for many years. LGBTQ+ inclusion is already part of the identity of United Methodism in the area. And we have had a commitment to include ministries with immigrant people, and to be racially and ethnically diverse. Both urban and rural. Young and old. Red and blue.

But we fall short of our own inclusive aspirations. And we squabble over which diverse communities can stay together and which ones are incompatible. Between now and General Conference in September 2021, we need to test and grow our faith to a deeper level where we trust that Jesus gives us One Faith, One Lord, One Baptism, even though we live out our faith in different ways. At the core we are not divided. Our gifts all serve one Savior, who gives us the grace to live, worship and serve together. We can endure this rough patch if we stay in relationship, if we learn to talk about what we hold most close, if we let love bind us together with cords that cannot be broken. 

A year ago, when I called the Guiding Coalition and its working groups, we started to explore the complicated questions surrounding our United Methodist Future. When COVID hit in the spring, we all shifted our focus from the future of United Methodism to the immediate present. All except one group that called itself “Weaving a Grassroots Connection.” The members of the group continued to experiment with initiating conversations among people in The United Methodist Church about why they are United Methodist. They had a great time doing it. And they want to help us all have these conversations. Watch this first fruit example of their efforts.

They believe, and I believe that if we grow to know and love one another, we will be united and connected in the love and grace of Jesus Christ. What was it Jesus said? “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20). What would Jesus do with us if we gathered in small gatherings, learned to love each other, and asked him what he wants for us? What if the “connection” became personal instead of institutional? What if it was about loving relationships with one another, about how a local church relates to its community or how one local church comes alongside another local church in times of joy and distress – to share each other’s burdens? What if the future of United Methodism rested on a weaving of connections between people who are learning to see, know and love each other? Now that would be a strong connection.

So, my friends, my siblings, and cousins, my neighbors and you who may be strangers – I invite you to be the hopeful, faithful, loving, courageous, audacious, humble people that God, in holy scripture, invites us to be. We can stop the spread of a deadly virus. We can root out racism and create beloved community. We can and we will recover from flood, earthquake, storm, and wildfire. We can be a “big tent” church, where people can journey with each other, in the presence of Jesus, toward a future where everyone has a place, and the parts all fit together. We might even be able to save the planet and all the teaming creatures that call it home.

When faced with a very difficult assignment that the disciples did not feel capable of, Jesus said to them, “truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

How do we move forward together?

For the next 15 months, the Greater Northwest Cabinet is committed to focusing our leadership on three ministry foci:

  • Do No Harm

    Fighting COVID-19

  • Do Good

    Dismantling Racism

  • Stay in Love with God

    Weaving a Connectional Future for United Methodism

Alongside these priorities, we will, of course, help our churches provide relief to people harmed by wildfire. And we will always keep our eyes on the horizon to receive what comes our way of blessing or curse and respond with love. This is what love requires. And what is possible – with the faith of a mustard seed.

Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky
Greater Northwest Episcopal Area

A Message from Bishop Stanovsky on Juneteenth 2020

24 February, 1791

Balam. England

Dear Sir:

Unless the divine power has raised you up to be as “Athanasius against the world,” I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy, which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them stronger than God? O be not weary of well-doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of His might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by the circumstance, that a man who has a black skin being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a LAW in all of our Colonies that the OATH of a black man against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this!

That He who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,

John Wesley[i]                        

Juneteenth, 2020

To the People Called Methodist,

BLACK LIVES MATTER
BLACK VOTING RIGHTS MATTER
BLACK VOICES MATTER

Since George Floyd died beneath the crushing knee of a police officer, the cry for justice has been heard around the world, with new urgency. The cry and demand for racial justice can be found in the very origins of the Methodist movement, in John Wesley’s letter encouraging William Wilberforce to persevere in the seemingly hopeless battle against the “execrable villainy” of racial injustice embedded in the law and practice, trusting that, “if God be for you, who can be against you?”

Nearly 230 years later, this villainy has not been rooted out, but embedded in systems that we mask with words. A new generation of activists for the just treatment of Black people joins generations who have fought for decades and centuries to put right what is so very wrong and corrosive of the principle that all are created equal. The struggle is long and hard, and many people who benefit from the injustice work to perpetuate the unequal, cruel and even lethal treatment of Black Americans.

Today is celebrated as Juneteenth, remembered as the day emancipation of slaves was announced to the last state in the United States on June 19, 1865, following the Civil War. I pray that God continues in the midst of the struggle, with people in police departments, courtrooms, on the streets, in worship, attending funerals, behind prison bars. I pray that God is using the people called “Methodist” in our day to continue the struggle. 

May all who see the injustice, say what we see, share what we see and never “never be worn out by the opposition of men and devils” who stand against justice. God is with all who stand and speak and work for racial justice.

Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed.

                                                      Hebrews 12:12

But let justice roll down like waters,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Amos 5: 24

Bishop Elaine JW Stanovsky

[i]  John Wesley’s last letter before his death, sent to William Wilberforce, quoted in https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/wesley-to-wilberforce/

Aviso #7, de parte de nuestra Obispo en relación con el COVID-19, 16 de Junio de 2020

Estimados líderes pastorales del Gran Área Noroeste de la IMU, 

Ha sido una bendición ver a las iglesias del Gran Noroeste responder al COVID-19 con gran precaución, compasión y creatividad. No ha sido fácil suspender la adoración en persona durante tres meses, pero has estado a la altura de las circunstancias y has ejercido una gran precaución por la salud y el bienestar de tus vecinos. Muchos de ustedes han desarrollado la capacidad de ofrecer adoración en línea. Otros envían boletines impresos y sermones cada semana. Has encontrado formas de ofrecer compasión distribuyendo tarjetas de regalo, haciendo máscaras faciales, ofreciendo cajas de comida, celebraciones de cumpleaños y ceremonias de graduaciones en autos. Su creatividad ha dado lugar a círculos de oración, grupos de estudio y reuniones de niños virtuales. Has dirigido con abundante gracia a través de un tiempo muy difícil y limitado. 

Aún así, no es posible reunirse para la adoración en línea en todos los lugares donde se encuentran nuestras iglesias. Y no es posible organizar campamentos de verano de forma segura. Es desgarrador no poder sostener la mano de un ser querido moribundo o reunirse y honrar a los que han fallecido en un servicio memorial. 

Como su obispo, he luchado toda la semana pasada en saber cuál es la mejor manera de dirigir, atender las necesidades de tantas iglesias y comunidades a las que ustedes sirven, enfrentando circunstancias tan variadas. La “curva” de los nuevos casos de COVID-19 se ha incrementado desde que las restricciones fueron flexibilizadas en relación con la interacción social en la mayoría de los estados en el mes de mayo y después del fin de semana del “Memorial Day”. Se desconocen los impactos que tendrán las grandes protestas públicas por la justicia racial desde la muerte de George Floyd el 25 de mayo. Los profesionales de la salud están muy preocupados de que podamos estar viendo el comienzo de otro pico que podría amenazar con colapsar a los sistemas de atención médica. 

A pesar de las serias reservas, efectivo de inmediato, estoy flexibilizando las restricciones sobre el culto en persona y el cierre de edificios que permiten la transición de la Fase 1 a la Fase 2 de “Re-imaginando nuestra vida juntos”. Esto significa que SI …

  1. los planes de reapertura de una iglesia han sido aprobados por su superintendente de distrito (o, en el caso de otro entorno ministerial, por su director de ministerios conexiónales), y
  2. el plan es consistente con la guía de salud pública local y estatal,

ENTONCES … la iglesia puede implementar su plan para entrar en la Fase 2.

Además, en respuesta a las solicitudes de aclaración, las siguientes enmiendas e interpretaciones están vigentes durante las Fases 1 y 2:

  1. Para la protección contra COVID-19, se recomienda que los adultos vulnerables y las personas con condiciones de salud previas no se reúnan con otros en las instalaciones de la iglesia o para actividades de la iglesia. Sin embargo, respetando el derecho de los adultos a elegir el nivel de riesgo que aceptarán, ningún adulto puede ser excluido de las actividades de la iglesia debido a su edad o condiciones de salud que pueden hacerlos vulnerables a la enfermedad. Las iglesias deben tener un proceso establecido para que las personas sean conscientes de que ingresar al edificio y participar en las funciones de la iglesia puede exponerlos al COVID-19. Una vez conscientes, no deben excluirse únicamente por su protección.
  2. Las personas pueden ser excluidas de ingresar a las instalaciones de la iglesia o participar en actividades de la iglesia si hay razones para sospechar que pueden estar infectadas con el virus y estarían poniendo en riesgo a otros por su presencia, o si se niegan a cumplir con los protocolos de higiene y distanciamiento especificados en el plan de re-apertura de la iglesia. El distanciamiento social y el uso de una cubierta facial no son protección suficiente para permitir la participación de una persona que haya dado positivo, haya estado expuesta o muestre síntomas del virus.
  3. Estas pautas no pretenden evitar que se ofrezcan servicios esenciales en el edificio de la Iglesia con la condición de que se observen los protocolos de distanciamiento e higiene.     

Siguiendo caso por caso, los superintendentes de distrito pueden aprobar los planes de la iglesia local para la Fase 2 que incluyen lo siguiente:

  1. Adoración desde los automóviles, sin acceso al edificio de la iglesia.
  2. Adoración al aire libre, sin acceso al edificio de la iglesia.
  3. Grabaciones musicales individuales para la adoración en línea, incluyendo canto e instrumentos de viento, en el santuario de la iglesia siguiendo las medidas de precaución.

A medida que las congregaciones vuelven a imaginar la vida en común juntos y consideran cómo y cuándo reabrir, cada congregación todo líder metodista unido debe considerar las tendencias alarmantes y el grave daño potencial de abrir demasiado pronto o sin una preparación adecuada. Mientras reflexiona con otros líderes de su iglesia, tome una visión amplia y de largo alcance del impacto de sus decisiones y acciones.

La investigación en ciencias sociales y ciencias de la salud es motivo para tener precaución.  Veintiún estados, incluyendo los estados de Alaska, Oregón y Washington en el Gran Área Noroeste, están experimentando un aumento en los casos desde la apertura y como consecuencia de la socialización durante el fin de semana del “Memorial Day”.  Aún se desconoce el impacto que las grandes protestas públicas por la justicia racial van a tener en la propagación del virus.  

Las prácticas de prueba y el rastreo de los casos son inconsistentes en nuestra área e insuficientes en algunas áreas. La capacidad de atención médica esta distribuida de manera desigual en toda el área y está en peligro de verse abrumada si COVID-19 vuelve a resurgir. 

Las personas que prestan servicios esenciales, las personas de color y las personas pobres son desproporcionadamente vulnerables a contraer la enfermedad, de tener una atención médica no adecuada y a tensiones económicas que esto provoca. Las decisiones de aceptar los riesgos que conlleva la reapertura con la esperanza de cosechar los beneficios de una mayor libertad individual, interacción social y recuperación económica tienen el efecto de privilegiar a los mas privilegiados y hacer que los mas vulnerables sean los mas perjudicados.

Las expresiones de urgencia para reabrir provienen de varios motivos. Algunos están preocupados por el presupuesto de la iglesia.  Algunos están preocupados por la economía. Algunos sobre la pérdida de miembros por una iglesia vecina que ha abierto para la adoración. Todos reconocen la necesidad emocional, mental y espiritual de la interacción humana, y lo ven como la misión de la Iglesia de reunir personas para apoyo, oración, aliento y consuelo. Algunos escuchan el llamado al testimonio profético, la acción en la Iglesia, y sienten que este momento de la historia nos obliga a reunirnos, organizarnos y salir a las calles para abogar por la justicia y la misericordia racial.  Los cristianos enfrentamos dilemas morales bien extraordinarios en este tiempo tan complejo.

La salud física y la salud económica son intereses mutuamente dependientes.  La salud no es simplemente un valor progresivo.  La estabilidad económica no es simplemente un valor conservador. Si la pandemia continúa extendiéndose, la economía no se recuperará.  Si ponemos en marcha la economía alentando a las empresas a abrir y a las personas a regresar al trabajo antes de que sea seguro, esto aumentará el número de casos de muertes, y nuevamente la economía sufrirá.   

Ninguna iglesia debería alinearse simplemente con un lado u otro de la actual división política en Estados Unidos. Los cristianos deberían estar dispuestos a ser capaces de sacrificarse ahora por tener un resultado a largo plazo que beneficiara a toda la familia humana.  No solo mi familia, mi congregación, mi ciudad, mi condado, mi estado, las personas que se ven, piensan o votan como yo. Amar al prójimo como a uno mismo significa, actuar ahora de una manera que intentamos dirigirnos a la meta de una espiritualidad completa y proclamamos la sanidad de la casa de Dios.

Algunos de ustedes se preguntan acerca de la adoración al aire libre con cubiertas faciales y distanciamiento social. ¿Qué dilemas morales podría presentar la adoración al aire libre?  ¿Cómo evalúa la bendición de reunirse como comunidad de fe contra el posible daño de la exposición a la enfermedad? ¿Qué motiva el deseo urgente de reunirse nuevamente? ¿Es para atender las necesidades de las personas en la iglesia? ¿También sirve al público en general?  ¿Qué mensaje se envía si la gente ve la iglesia reunida al aire libre? ¿Tal reunión alentaría a las personas a continuar limitando sus interacciones sociales, o podría dar la impresión de que el peligro ya pasó?

“Re-imaginar la vida juntos” alienta a cada congregación a dejar a un lado algunas costumbres y tradiciones que han servido durante una temporada, y a descubrir y experimentar nuevas y diferentes formas de vida congregacional. El impulso urgente de reunirse nuevamente, darse la mano, abrazarse, cantar juntos, partir el pan juntos en la mesa de la comunión o en la mesa de la comida, surge de un anhelo de volver a los hábitos que nos hacen sentir cómodos, pero quizás a costa de la seguridad de otros. ¿Podríamos pensar en COVID-19 como una temporada de estar en “ayuno” de formas y hábitos familiares de la iglesia? ¿Podría ser este el momento en el que revisamos los “armarios” de nuestra iglesia para ver qué sigue encajando o trabajando, qué se ve bien y qué está desactualizado, en mal estado o simplemente ya no encaja? 

Sé que liderar una congregación es un desafío durante un momento de tales amenazas a la salud y la interrupción de las rutinas normales. Sé que hacer las adaptaciones necesarias para llevar a cabo las funciones básicas del ministerio es estresante y requiere aprender formas completamente nuevas de relacionarse. 

Mis primeros videos de “selfies” en la temporada de COVID-19 fueron grabados en mi teléfono, sostenido en un estante por hilo y una banda elástica. Con paciencia y buen humor (tienes que reírte o seguramente llorarás) he aprendido relajadamente, y dejo que lo que soy capaz de producir sea lo suficientemente bueno . 

Recuerdo las supuestas últimas palabras de John Wesley: “ 

“Lo mejor de todo es que Dios está con nosotros” en la risa, la frustración, las lágrimas y los preciosos momentos de santidad. 

Oro para que puedan tener el poder de comprender, junto con todos los santos, cuán ancho y largo, alto y profundo es el amor de Cristo; en fin, que conozcan ese amor que sobrepasa nuestro conocimiento, para que sean llenos de la plenitud de Dios.

– Efesios 3:18-19

Obispa Elaine JW Stanovsky
Area Episcopal del Gran Noroeste

Translated and adapted by Rev. Cruz Edwin Santos, Director of Hispanic /Latinx Ministries

Traducido y adaptado por el Rev. Cruz Edwin Santos, Director de Ministerios Hispanos/Latin@s

COVID-19 Statistical Reports